The Withered Fortress

Uncover the secrets of an ancient ruin

Edvar

The body is a weapon; the mind is its armor.

Description:

Even for a Half-Giant, Edvar is quite large at 8 feet tall and 400 pounds. He has a stout build, light blue eyes, and a coppery complexion. Unlike most other Half-Giants from his region, he is a bit “rough around the edges.” His clothes are untidy, his long black hair is unkempt and unbraided.

Bio:

where Edvar is from…

Centuries ago, a powerful and resourceful human sorcerer in search of solitude and fortune settled in the desert. His curiosity in psionics eventually led him to become a psion focused on geneforging and race breeding. His specialty was race splicing. After many other combinations, he spliced humans with giants and discovered the product was a strong race that retained much intelligence. He realized these half-giants made the perfect soldiers and decided to breed/forge them exclusively for the purpose of selling them. First were simple bodyguards and task forces. Eventually, the business turned into a mass production of half-giant armies for sale.

His once meager keep that expanded into a fortress and geneforging facility was passed down to his heirs and successors. Each heir to the business made slight advancements in their product; until one of them made an evolutionary advancement. Previously, all half-giants were bred as males only. Thinking that his warriors would fight more passionately, one heir decided to add females into the genepool. As it did add a degree of passion to their fighting, it also introduced behavior that eventually evolved the breed into a society. Of course, the psion/sorcerer heirs naturally became the self-proclaimed rulers of this society.

After countless generations of evolution through the normal form of propagation, the new half-giant race began to detest their geneforged cousins, calling them an ancient abomination. Heeding the demands of this new society, the now king agreed to cease the production of all geneforged half-giant armies and concentrated on building a thriving kingdom.

The kingdom did thrive and has thrived for centuries. Curiously, it is still ruled by a human psion/sorcerer and his counsel. The counsel consists of humans (most of which are psions, sorcerers, and wizards) and half-giants. Geneforging of half-giants hasn’t taken place for hundreds of years; therefore, all living half-giants have a rich lineage of naturally bred forefathers. The kingdom still exists deep in the desert with several well-used trade routes running through it. These routes that were initially created by marching armies are now frequented only by trade caravans. Although the half-giant race is accustomed to the desert environment, not many others are.

The infrastructure and daily life is not dissimilar to most other kingdoms. There are peasants, farmers, tradesmen, nobility, etcetera. Despite the lack of attempts to conquer this kingdom, and the lack of enemies (due to its undesirable environment), the king commands a formidable army comprised entirely of half-giants, of course.

No matter the social status, most half-giants are very tidy and neat. They stand 6.5-8 feet tall, with coppery skin and light blue eyes. Their appearance is very clean; their clothes are often showy and pious; and, their long black hair is well-kempt in a tight braid.